# UKs Sports Personality

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [December 16, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469 "2013-12-16T15:40:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![trooper1943](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@trooper1943](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trooper1943)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/1 "2013-12-16T15:40:56Z")

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Hi all, Can anyone explain to a simple soul as I, how the powers that be at the good ol’ BBC knew to have the award ready to present to Andy Murray who was in Miami? whilst everyone else was in Leeds.

Okay, he might have been an odds on favourite, (not in my book) but just imagine how much egg on faces had the public voted otherwise, which is how it is supposed to work. It looks to me very much like the Strictly Come Dancing charade (No, I don’t watch it) where they pretend the Sunday show is live & have the audience change places & the “stars” change their attire, whilst talking about “last nights show” blah blah blah. What a sham. Or am I seriously missing summat!!!

Cheers (tongue in cheek) 😉

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**Author:** ![jpsbcfc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@jpsbcfc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jpsbcfc)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/2 "2013-12-16T16:52:27Z")

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they have 2 of each trophy so i guess just off camera for Murray’s award was the spare set in case he came 2nd or 3rd.

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**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/3 "2013-12-16T17:48:40Z")

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Yes, as jpsbcfc said, they simply sent a spare trophy to Murray.

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**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/4 "2013-12-16T18:49:14Z")

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I am pretty sure the recipient gets a replica to keep, so they can just send a replica to be presented.

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**Author:** ![trooper1943](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@trooper1943](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trooper1943)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/5 "2013-12-16T19:30:27Z")

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Check this link, it says it all, especially his sponsors (Adidas) comment further down the text. Priceless.

> **[BBC backlash after Sport Personality trophy is sent to Andy Murray](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524526/BBC-criticised-cutting-Andy-Murray-won-Sports-Personality-Year-Award.html)**
>
> Critics said Gary Lineker 'killed the suspense' after he introduced the Wimbledon champion 'just in case' he won about five minutes before the result, but did not refer to any of the other nominees.

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**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/6 "2013-12-16T19:30:53Z")

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I think this is typical for even ‘real’ trophies. I know that when soccer leagues are decided on the last day of the season, there are several copies of the championship trophy at the different grounds.

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**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/7 "2013-12-16T19:34:42Z")

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As an aside, my GF and I were in the audience of Strictly when it was in Blackpool. They didn’t ask us to change seats before the ‘Sunday’ show. They did ask us to swap clothes with the person behind us, but only as a joke.

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**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/8 "2013-12-16T19:43:30Z")

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Wouldn’t it be better if he had some “personality” …

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**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/9 "2013-12-16T19:47:31Z")

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> [@trooper1943](#):
>
> Check this link, it says it all, especially his sponsors (Adidas) comment further down the text. Priceless.  
> [BBC criticised for cutting to Andy Murray before he won Sports Personality of the Year Award | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524526/BBC-criticised-cutting-Andy-Murray-won-Sports-Personality-Year-Award.html)

Crikey, there’s a surprise. A Daily Mail article getting in a few digs at the BBC based on some random tweets. Quality reporting there 😃

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/10 "2013-12-16T19:51:10Z")

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A few years ago, I was watching one of the secondary Hollywood award shows. I think it was the Golden Globes. I read online and then confirmed for myself that the Twitter feed from the organizers announced the winner of each award a minute or so before the envelopes were opened.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/11 "2013-12-16T19:55:27Z")

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Moved to the Game Room.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/12 "2013-12-16T20:11:17Z")

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> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> A few years ago, I was watching one of the secondary Hollywood award shows. I think it was the Golden Globes. I read online and then confirmed for myself that the Twitter feed from the organizers announced the winner of each award a minute or so before the envelopes were opened.

This could be more of a satellite delay/obscenity delay thing than the organizers revealing the winners in advance. (Awards shows don’t air “live”, even in the USA; there’s a seven-second delay so they can delete any obscenities, especially after the “Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction” during a Super Bowl halftime show that resulted in the broadcasting network receiving a heavy fine. There’s also a little bit of a delay in transmitting a signal via satellite from a live broadcast location to a studio; even within the USA, it’s about 15 seconds.)

Not every awards show has a spare trophy ready when somebody at a remote site wins; one year, Tommy Tune won a Tony award while he was choreographing another show in another part of the country, but when he gave his acceptance speech, he thought that there would be a Tony already there for him to accept, only to be told that there wasn’t.

There was a time when the Oscars organizers did send out a list of winners in advance (long before the show was televised), so newspapers could print the winners in their morning editions the next day, but one year (1941, I think), somebody published them early, and the next year, they started using Price Waterhouse (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers - I wonder whatever happened to Lybrand) to guard the results until announced.

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/13 "2013-12-16T20:15:03Z")

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> [@sidecar\_jon](#):
>
> Wouldn’t it be better if he had some “personality” …

Sure would, but there are many precedents. 😃

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-sports-personality/676469/14 "2013-12-16T20:17:49Z")

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> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#):
>
> This could be more of a satellite delay/obscenity delay thing than the organizers revealing the winners in advance. (Awards shows don’t air “live”, even in the USA; there’s a seven-second delay so they can delete any obscenities, especially after the “Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction” during a Super Bowl halftime show that resulted in the broadcasting network receiving a heavy fine. There’s also a little bit of a delay in transmitting a signal via satellite from a live broadcast location to a studio; even within the USA, it’s about 15 seconds.)

No, the Golden Globe tweets were much earlier than seven seconds. This [article from USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/01/13/globes-tweet-winners-before-tv-announces-them/1831623/) said that some tweets were 21 seconds early, 49 seconds early, two minutes early, three minutes early, and even four minutes early.
